Two armed suspects killed in southern Lebanon after approaching border with Israel
The Times of Israel is liveblogging Friday’s events as they unfold. Two armed suspects killed in southern Lebanon after approaching border with Israel Two armed suspects were killed after approaching the border with Israel from southern Lebanon a short while ago, the Israel Defense Forces say. According to the military, the troops spotted suspicious movements of the armed suspects hundreds of meters away from the border. They were then killed in airstrikes. The IDF says there are no additional suspects in the area and that the incident is over. Series of problems halts SpaceX Starship test flight CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — SpaceX got within a half-minute of launching its newest and biggest Starship on a test flight this evening before a cascade of problems halted the countdown. The 407-foot (124-meter) rocket was poised to begin a space-skimming journey from Texas extending halfway around the world. But issues cropped up with the brand-new pad at Starbase near the Mexican border, and the company ran out of time. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk later says the hydraulic pin holding the launch tower’s arm in place did not retract. If the problem can be fixed quickly, another launch attempt will be made today, he notes. Yesterday’s launch attempt came one day after Musk announced that his rocket company would be going public. Starship holds 20 mock Starlink satellites to be released before the spacecraft’s controlled entry into the Indian Ocean at the end of the hour-long flight. It will be the 12th test flight for a Starship and the first since last fall. NASA is relying on this latest version of Starship to land astronauts on the moon in a few years. US detains sister of Cuban military conglomerate chief The United States arrested Adys Lastres Morera, the sister of the executive president of GAESA, a sprawling conglomerate of military-run businesses, Secretary of State Marco Rubio says. Morera, who entered the United States as a lawful permanent resident in 2023, is now in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement pending removal proceedings, according to separate statement from ICE. Morera’s presence poses a threat to the United States and undermines American foreign policy interests, the statement says. Cuba’s leadership rarely talks publicly about GAESA, which stands for Grupo de Administración Empresarial — or “business administration group.” It has long held that such discretion is necessary to confront a US trade and financial blockade that severely complicates the island’s business with the outside world. Reuters is not immediately able to reach out to representatives of Morera for comment. Republicans delay US House vote to halt Iran war that was on verge of passing WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans struggled yesterday to find the votes to dismiss legislation that would compel President Donald Trump to withdraw from the war with Iran, delaying planned votes on the matter into June. The House had scheduled a vote on a war powers resolution, brought by Democrats, that would rein in Trump’s military campaign. But as it becomes clear that Republicans would not have the numbers to defeat the bill, GOP leaders decline to hold a vote on it. Republicans are also working to ensure they have the votes to dismiss another war powers resolution in the Senate that advanced to a final vote earlier this week, when four GOP senators supported the resolution and three others were absent from the vote. The actions by congressional leaders showed the increasing difficultly of maintaining political backing for Trump’s handling of the war. Rank-and-file Republicans are increasingly willing to defy the president over the conflict. Turkish court ousts main opposition chief in blow to Erdogan’s rivals ANKARA, Turkey — A Turkish court effectively ousts the main opposition leader Ozgur Ozel, annulling the 2023 party congress that elected him chairman in a ruling that dealt a blow to President Tayyip Erdogan’s challengers and hit financial markets. The appeals court annulled the congress over irregularities and ruled that former Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu — a divisive figure within the party who lost to Erdogan in an election earlier in 2023 — should replace his successor Ozel. The case was seen as a test of Turkey’s shaky balance between democracy and autocracy, and the ruling may throw the opposition into further disarray and possible infighting. It could also boost Erdogan’s chances of extending his more than two-decade rule of the big NATO member country and major emerging market economy. The CHP rejects the ruling as an “attempted coup,” while the government — which denies criticism that it uses courts to target political opponents — says it renewed Turks’ faith in the rule of law.
Source: The Times of Israel